The Basics of Fighting Games

What would you say is the most critical part of a fighting game? The mix-ups and crossups? The block strings? Maybe even the normals? Now, consider, for a second, that you’ve never played a fighting game; quite a difficult experience, right? Those terms might all make sense for those of you who are seasoned veterans of fighting games, but they can seem quite confusing for players who are just getting into the genre.

So to help out those “greenies” who might be wanting to get into the exciting world of arcade fighters, we’ve put together this short guide on the basic fighting game terminology. We hope that this will be useful for beginners, who can learn them and hop into the fray with at least a theoretical knowledge on why they are losing (trust us, you’ll lose a lot at the beginning). And who knows, if you’re a veteran, you might even learn the name of “that thing” that you do that helps you win matches, but that you’ve never actually known what it’s called.